Page 48 - RADC Bulletin 2022

QEII Platinum Jubilee
– Trooping
the Colour
Lt Col Stu Porter
The Sovereign’s Birthday is officially marked by the ceremony of Trooping
the Colour. This impressive display of pageantry takes place on a Saturday in June by the Sovereign’s personal troops the Household Division, on Horse Guards Parade. Over 1400 officers and soldiers are on parade, together with 200 horses; over 400 musicians from 10 bands and corps of drums march and play as one.
It being the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee,
this year was particularly special so I was very keen to volunteer my services. The CO Wellington Barracks was very kind and gave me the role of Assistant Chief Usher, which sounded very grand and I willingly accepted, having no real idea what the role actually involved.
The first thing to ponder was the matter
of the correct order of dress for an RADC Dental Officer on ceremonial duty, which is a rare occurrence. After making enquires with CDO(A), Col Tim Davies and the Col Comdt, Quentin Anderson, we worked out what was needed and with the help of the Wellington Barracks Adjutant I headed down to the tailors to get kitted out. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of accoutrements to sort out, some only worn if royalty were present e.g.
a gold sash rather than a crimson sash, gold sword knot rather than a buff sword knot etc.
With ‘all the gear and no idea,’ I then had a meeting with the Chief Usher, an Irish Guards LE Lt Col who had done Trooping of the Colour many times. He informed me that my job was to assist him with the C2 of all the ushers on the parade, who were all generally guardsmen of many years’ experience. Their job was to check the public’s tickets, show them to their seats and signal to the public when to stand up (and salute if in uniform) during the parade. I was also to stand in for the Chief Usher should he be taken ill. Slightly concerned,
I reconfirmed with the latter that, were I to stand in for him on the parades, the Dental Officer would basically be telling guardsmen how to do their jobs on the parade. He confirmed this was correct, so I wished him good health with more than usual fervour.
In the run up to the Queen’s Birthday Parade there are three dress rehearsals, the Brigade Major’s, the Major General’s and the Colonel of the Regiment’s, which the public can view and buy tickets for. These allow the troops to hone their drill so that it is perfect on the day of the Queen’s Birthday Parade. For the first such parade I was involved with, the Major General’s, I was obviously slightly nervous, but looking forward to the event. Before the parade started, we all had to be fitted with discreet radios, which included a small earpiece and talk button hidden under our Number 1 jacket. Once the radios were fitted, all the ushers then had a brief from the Chief Usher to confirm timings, roles, salutes etc., - as mentioned earlier, I would have to do this if he was unable. Again, I comforted myself that he looked in pretty good health for an LE Officer.
At the end of the brief the Chief Usher
46 RADC BULLETIN 2022
ENGAGEMENT